Viking
The term
Viking, though used to denote ship-borne explorers, traders and warriors, is actually a verb describing the acts of the
Norsemen who originated in
Norway,
Iceland,
Denmark and
Sweden and raided the coasts of the
British Isles,
France and other parts of
Europe from the late
8th century to the
11th century. This period of European history (generally dated to
793â€"
1066) is often referred to as the
Viking Age. It may also be used to denote the entire populations of these countries and their settlements elsewhere.
Famed for their navigation ability and long ships, Vikings in a few hundred years colonized the coasts and rivers of Europe, the islands of
Shetland,
Orkney, the
Faroe Islands,
Iceland,
Greenland, and for a short while also
Newfoundland circa
1000 [
1], while still reaching as far south as
North Africa, east into
Russia and to
Constantinople for raiding and trading. Viking voyages grew less frequent with the introduction of
Christianity to Scandinavia in the late
10th and 11th century. The Viking Age is often considered to have ended with the
battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.
The word
viking was introduced to the English language with
romantic connotations in the
18th century. In the current Scandinavian languages the term
viking is applied to the people who went away on viking expeditions, be it for raiding or trading. In English it has become common to use it to refer to the Viking Age
Scandinavians in general. The pre-Christian Scandinavian population is also referred to as
Norse.
See main article Viking Age.
The period of North Germanic expansion, usually taken to last from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the
Norman Conquest of England in 1066, is commonly called the Viking Age. The Vikings may be seen as late joiners in the
Migrations period, and thus the period links
Late Antiquity with the high
Middle Ages. Geographically, a "Viking Age" may be assigned not only to the Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark, and southern Norway and Sweden), but also to territories under North Germanic dominance, mainly the
Danelaw,
Scotland, the
Isle of Man and
Ireland. Contemporary with the European Viking Age, the
Byzantine Empire experienced the greatest period of stability (circa
800â€"
1071) it would enjoy after the initial wave of
Arab conquests in the mid-
7th century.
Viking navigators also opened the road to new lands to the north and to the west, resulting in the colonization of
Shetland,
Orkney, the
Faroe Islands,
Iceland,
Greenland, and even an expedition to, and a short-lived settlement in,
Newfoundland circa 1000. 1
During three centuries, Vikings appeared along the coasts and rivers of Europe, as traders, but also as raiders, and even as settlers. From
839, there were
Varangian mercenaries in
Byzantine service (most famously
Harald Hardrada, who campaigned in
North Africa and
Jerusalem in the 1030s). Important trading ports during the period include
Birka,
Hedeby,
Kaupang,
Jorvik,
Staraya Ladoga,
Novgorod and
Kiev. Generally speaking, the
Norwegians expanded to the north and west, the
Danes to England and France, settling in the
Danelaw, and the
Swedes to the east. But the three nations were not yet clearly separated, and still united by the common
Old Norse language. The names of Scandinavian kings are known only for the later part of the Viking Age, and only after the end of the Viking Age did the separate kingdoms acquire a distinct identity as nations, which went hand in hand with their
christianization. Thus it may be noted that the end of the Viking Age (9th–11th century) for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages.
Decline
After trade and settlement, cultural impulses flowed from the rest of europe. Christianity had an early and growing presence in Scandinavia, and with the rise of centralized authority along with a stiffening of coastal defense in the areas the vikings preyed upon, the Viking raids became more risky and less profitable. With the rise of kings and greate nobles and a quasi -
feudal system in Scandinavia, they ceased entirely - in the 11th century the scandinavians are frequently chronicled as combating "vikings" from the baltic, which would eventually lead to Danish and Swedish participation in the
baltic crusades The earliest date given for a Viking raid is
787 when, according to the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a group of men from
Norway sailed to
Portland, in Dorset. There, they were mistaken for merchants by a royal official, and they murdered him when he tried to get them to accompany him to the king's manor to pay a trading tax on their goods. The next recorded attack, dated
June 8,
793, was on the monastery at
Lindisfarneâ€"the "Holy Island"â€"on the east coast of
England. For the next 200 years,
European history is filled with tales of Vikings and their plundering.
Vikings exerted influence throughout the coastal areas of
Ireland and
Scotland, and conquered and colonized large parts of England (see
Danelaw).
Wales also saw large-scale Viking settlements on its coast; the modern day city of
Swansea takes its name from
Sweyne Forkbeard who was shipwrecked at modern day
Swansea Bay; neighbouring
Gower Peninsula has many place names of Norse origin (such as
Worms Head, worm is the Norse word for dragon, as the Vikings believed that the serpent shaped island was a sleeping dragon). Twenty miles west of
Cardiff on the
Vale of Glamorgan coast is the semi-flooded island of
Tusker Rock which takes it names from Tuska the Viking whose people semi-colonised the fertile lands of the
Vale of Glamorgan. The Britons of
Cornwall allied with the Vikings in order to stop the westward halt of
Wessex; as Cornwall was never absorbed into Wessex the Vikings in a sense stopped Cornwall from becoming Saxonised. They travelled up the rivers of
France and
Spain, and gained control of areas in
Russia and along the
Baltic coast. Stories tell of raids in the
Mediterranean and as far east as the
Caspian Sea.
Significantly, the
Celtic nations of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and
Cornwall, during their battles against the
Anglo-Saxons, decided to ally with the Vikings against the Saxons. Possibly as a result, the modern-day Celtic nations of Britain, in particular the cities of
Cardiff and
Swansea in Wales,
Falmouth in Cornwall and in Ireland the cities of
Cork,
Dublin,
Limerick and
Waterford, have a certain pride in what is perceived as "Viking ancestry".
Adam of Bremen records in his book
Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, (volume four):
Aurum ibi plurimum, quod raptu congeritur piratico. Ipsi enim piratae, 'quos illi Wichingos as appellant, nostri Ascomannos regi Danico tributum solvunt. :"There is much gold here (in
Zealand), accumulated by piracy. These pirates, which are called
wichingi by their own people, and
Ascomanni by our own people, pay tribute to the Danish king."
Viking raids in Iberia
By the mid 9th century, though apparently not before (Fletcher 1984, ch. 1, note 51), there were Viking attacks on the coastal
Kingdom of Asturias in the far northwest of the peninsula, though historical sources are too meagre to assess how frequent or how early raiding was. By the reign of
Alfonso III Vikings were stifling the already weak threads of sea communications that tied
Galicia (a province of the Kingdom) to the rest of Europe. Richard Fletcher attests raids on the Galician coast in
844 and
858: "Alfonso III was sufficiently worried by the threat of Viking attack to establish fortified strong points near his coastline, as other rulers were doing elsewhere." In
968 Bishop Sisnando of
Compostela was killed, the monastery of Curtis was sacked, and measures were ordered for the defence of the inland town of
Lugo. After
Tuy was sacked early in the 11th century, its bishopric remained vacant for the next half-century. Ransom was a motive for abductions: Fletcher instances Amarelo Mestáliz, who was forced to raise money on the security of his land in order to ransom his daughters who had been captured by the Vikings in
1015. Bishop Cresconio of Compostela (ca.
1036â€"66) repulsed a Viking foray and built the fortress at
Torres del Oeste (Council of
Catoira) to protect Compostela from the Atlantic approaches. The city of
PĂłvoa de Varzim in Northern
Portugal, then a town, was settled by Vikings around the 9th century and its influence kept strong until very recently, mostly due to the practice of
endogamy in the community.
In the Islamic south, the first navy of the
Emirate was called into being after the humiliating Viking ascent of the
Guadalquivir, 844, and was tested in repulsing Vikings in 859. Soon the dockyards at
Seville were extended, it was employed to patrol the Iberian coastline under the caliphs
Abd al-Rahman III (
912â€"
61) and
Al-Hakam II (
961â€"
76). By the next century piracy from Saracens superseded the Viking scourge.
Rune stones
Many
rune stones in Scandinavia record the names of participants in Viking expeditions. Other rune stones mention men who died on Viking expeditions, among them the around 25 Ingvar stones in the
Mälardalen district of Sweden erected to commemorate members of a disastrous expedition into present-day Russia in the early 11th century. The rune stones are important sources in the study of the entire Norse society and early medieval Scandinavia, not only of the 'Viking' segment of the population (Sawyer, P H: 1997).
Burial sites
There are numerous burial sites associated with Vikings. some examples are:
*
Gettlinge gravfalt,
Ă–land, Sweden, ship outline
*
Jelling, Denmark, a World Heritage Site
*
Hulterstad gravflat, near the villages of
Alby and
Hulterstad,
Ă–land, Sweden, ship outline of standing stones
Icelandic sagas
Norse mythology,
Norse sagas and
Old Norse literature tell us about their religion through tales of heroic and mythological heroes. However, the transmission of this information was primarily oral, and we are reliant upon the writings of (later) Christian scholars, such as the Icelanders
Snorri Sturluson and
Sæmundr fróði, for much of this. Many of these sagas were written in
Iceland, and most of them, even if they had no icelandic provenience, was preserved there after the Middle Ages due to the Icelanders' continued interest in norse literature and law codes.
Vikings in those sagas are described as if they often struck at accessible and poorly defended targets, usually with impunity. The sagas state that the Vikings built settlements and were skilled craftsmen and traders.
The etymology of "Viking" is somewhat vague. One path might be from the
Old Norse word,
vĂk, meaning "bay," "creek," or "inlet," and the suffix
-ing, meaning "coming from" or "belonging to." Thus,
viking would be a 'person of the bay', or "bayling" for lack of a better word. In Old Norse, this would be spelled
vĂkingr. It may be noted that
Viken was the old name of the region bordering on the Skagerrak, from where the first norse merchant-warriors originated. Later on, the term,
viking, became synonymous with "naval expedition" or "naval raid", and a
vĂkingr was a member of such expeditions. A second etymology suggested that the term is derived from
Old English,
wĂc, ie. "trading city" (cognate to
Latin vicus, "village").
The word
viking appears on several
rune stones found in
Scandinavia. In the
Icelanders' sagas,
vĂking refers to an overseas expedition (Old Norse
farar i vikingr "to go on an expedition"), and
vĂkingr, to a seaman or warrior taking part in such an expedition.
In Old English, the word
wicing appears first in the
Anglo-Saxon poem, "
Widsith", which probably dates from the 9th century. In Old English, and in the writings of
Adam von Bremen, the term refers to a
pirate, and is not a name for a people or a culture in general.
The word disappeared in
Middle English, and was reintroduced as
viking during 18th century
Romanticism (the "
Viking revival"), with heroic overtones of "
barbarian warrior" or
noble savage. During the 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to the raiders, but also to the entire period; it is now, somewhat confusingly, used as a noun both in the original meaning of raiders, warriors or navigators, and to refer to the Scandinavian population in general. As an adjective, the word is used in expressions like "
Viking age," "Viking culture," "Viking colony," etc., generally referring to medieval Scandinavia.
|
Miniatures of two different types of longships, on display at Vikingeskibsmuseet in Roskilde, Denmark. |
There were two distinct classes of Viking ships: the
longship (the largest also known as "drakkar", meaning "dragon" in Norse) and the
knarr. The longship, intended for warfare and exploration, was designed for speed and agility, and were equipped with oars to complement the sail as well as making it able to navigate independently of the wind. The longship had a long and narrow hull, as well as a shallow draft, in order to facilitate landings and troop deployments in shallow water. The knarr, on the other hand, was a slower merchant vessel with a greater cargo capacity than the longship. It was designed with a short and broad hull, and a deep draft. It also lacked the oars of the longship.
Longships were used extensively by the
Leidang, the Scandinavian defense fleets. The term "Viking ships" has entered common usage, however, possibly because of its romantic associations (discussed below).
In Roskilde are the well-preserved remains of five ships, excavated from nearby
Roskilde Fjord in the late 1960s. The ships were scuttled there in the 11th century to block a navigation channel, thus protecting the city which was then the Danish capital, from seaborne assault. These five ships represent the two distinct classes of the Viking Ships, the longship and the knarr.
Longships are not to be confused with
longboats.
See also 19th century Viking revival. Early modern publications, dealing with what we now call Viking culture, appeared in the 16th century, e.g.
Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (Olaus Magnus, 1555), and the first edition of the
13th century Gesta Danorum of
Saxo Grammaticus in 1514. The pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the
Edda (notably Peder Resen's
Edda Islandorum of 1665).
Romanticism
According to the Swedish writer,
Jan Guillou, the word
Viking was popularized, with positive connotations, by
Erik Gustaf Geijer in the poem,
The Viking, written at the beginning of the 19th century. The word was taken to refer to romanticized, idealized naval warriors, who had very little to do with the historical Viking culture. This renewed interest of
Romanticism in the Old North had political implications. A myth about a glorious and brave past was needed to give the Swedes the courage to retake
Finland, which had been lost in
1809 during the
war between Sweden and Russia. The
Geatish Society, of which Geijer was a member, popularized this myth to a great extent. Another Swedish author who had great influence on the perception of the Vikings was
Esaias Tegnér, member of the
Geatish Society, who wrote a modern version of
FriĂ°ĂľjĂłfs saga ins frĹ"kna, which became widely popular in the Nordic countries, the
United Kingdom and
Germany.
A focus for early British enthusiasts was George Hicke, who published a
Linguarum vett. septentrionalium thesaurus in
1703â€"
05. During the 18th century, British interest and enthusiasm for Iceland and Nordic culture grew dramatically, expressed in English translations as well as original poems, extolling Viking virtues and increased interest in anything Runic that could be found in the Danelaw, rising to a peak during
Victorian times.
The German composer
Richard Wagner's works are strongly influenced by
Norse mythology.
Nazism and Fascism
Similar to Wagnerian mythology, the
romanticism of the heroic Viking ideal appealed to the Germanic supremacist thinkers of
Nazi Germany. Political organizations of the same tradition, such as the Norwegian fascist party,
Nasjonal Samling, used viking symbolism and imagery widely in its propaganda. The Viking legacy had an impact in parts of Europe, especially the Northern Baltic region, but in no way was the Viking experience particular to Germany. However, the Nazis did not claim themselves to be the descendants of these Viking settlers. Instead, they reasoned that the Vikings were descendants of the Germanic peoples, a fact supported by the shared cultural and linguistic traits of the Germans and Scandanavians. In particular, both also had traditions of Germanic paganism and practiced
runelore.
|
Staged fight during a Viking festival |
This common Germanic identity became - and still is - the foundation for much National Socialist iconography. For example, the runic emblem of the
SS utilized the "s" rune of the
Elder Futhark and the youth organization
Wiking-Jugend made extensive use of the
odal rune. This trend still holds true today (see also
fascist symbolism).
Living history
Since the 1960s, there has been rising enthusiasm for
historical reenactment. While the earliest groups had little claim for historical accuracy, the seriousness and accuracy of re-enactors has increased during the 1990s, including many re-enactment groups concentrating on an accurate representation of the Viking Age.
Horned helmets
Apart from two or three representations of (ritual) helmets with protrusions that may be either snakes or horns, no depiction of Viking Age warriors' helmets, and no actually preserved helmet, has horns. In fact, the formal close-quarters style of Viking combat (either in shield walls or aboard "ship islands") would have made horned helmets cumbersome and hazardous to the warrior's own side. Therefore it can be ruled out that Viking warriors had horned helmets, but whether or not they were used in Scandinavian culture for other, ritual purposes remains unproven. However, as no actual horned helmets have been found, the only information remains in depictions which may be interpreted in different ways, as mentioned above. The general misconception that Viking warriors wore
horned helmets was partly promulgated by the
19th century enthusiasts of the
Götiska Förbundet, founded in
1811 in Stockholm, with the aim of promoting the suitability of Norse mythology as subjects of high art and other ethnological and moral aims. The Vikings were also often depicted with winged-helmets and in other clothing taken from Classical antiquity, especially in depictions of Norse gods. This was done in order to legitimize the Vikings and their mythology, by associating it with the Classical world which has always been idealized in European culture. The latter-day
mythos created by
national romantic ideas blended the Viking Age with glimpses of the
Nordic Bronze Age some 2,000 years earlier, for which actual horned helmets, probably for ceremonial purposes, are attested both in
petroglyphs and by actual finds (See
Bohuslän [
2]). The cliché is perpetuated by cartoons like
Hägar the Horrible and
Vicky the Viking.
Skull cups
The use of human skulls as drinking vessels is also ahistorical. This myth must be dispelled as it furthers the misconception of Vikings as exceptionally barbaric. The rise of this myth can be traced back to a mistranslation of an
Icelandic kenning. In the Latin translation of the
Krákumál by MagnĂşs Ă"lafsson (in Ole Worm's
Runer seu Danica literatura antiquissima of 1636), warriors drinking
Ăłr bjĂşgviĂ°um hausa [from the curved branches of skulls, i.e. from horns] were rendered as drinking
ex craniis eorum quos ceciderunt [from the skulls of those whom they had slain]. (Scandinavian
skalli/
skalle:
skal means simply "shell" and
skál/
skĂĄl "bowl".) The skull-cup allegation may have some history also in relation with other Germanic tribes and
Eurasian nomads, such as the
Scythians and
Pechenegs (see
skull cups).
Uncleanliness
The image of wild-haired, dirty savages, sometimes associated with the Vikings in popular culture, has hardly any base in reality. Non-Scandanavian Christians are responsibile for most surviving accounts of the Vikings and consequently, a strong bias exists. This attitude is likely attributed to Christian misunderstandings regarding - and a lack of appreciation for - paganism. Viking tendencies were often misreported and the work of
Adam of Bremen, among others, told largely disputable tales of Viking savagery and uncleanliness.[
3]
However, it is now known that the Vikings used a variety of tools for personal grooming such as combs, tweezers, razors or specialized "ear spoons". In particular, combs are among the most frequent artifacts from Viking Age excavations, and one can conclude that a comb was the personal equipment of every man and woman. The Vikings also made
soap, which they used to bleach their hair as well as for cleaning, as blonde hair was ideal in the Viking culture.
The Vikings in England even had a particular reputation of excessive cleanliness, due to their custom of bathing once a week, on Saturdays (as opposed to the local
Anglo-Saxons). To this day, Saturday is referred to as
laugardagur/
lørdag/
lördag "bathing day" in the
Scandinavian languages, though the original meaning is lost in modern speech. As for the
Rus', who had later acquired a subjected
Varangian component,
Ibn Rustah explicitly notes their cleanliness, while
Ibn Fadlan is disgusted by all of the men sharing the same vessel to wash their faces and blow their noses in the morning. Ibn Fadlan's disgust is probably motivated by ideas of personal hygiene particular to the Muslim world, while the very example intended to convey the disgusting customs of the Rus' at the same time records that they did, in fact, wash every morning.
Books
Vikings, and Viking inspired societies have appeared in a number of works of fiction, including:
*
Byzantium and the
Celtic Crusades trilogy by
Stephen R. Lawhead*
The Last Light of the Sun (2004) by the Canadian author
Guy Gavriel Kay*
Eaters of the Dead (1976) by the American author
Michael Crichton (the name refers to the monsters based on
Grendel in
Beowulf, which the story is based upon. The Beowulf story actually predates the Vikings by about 300 years)
*
The Last Kingdom (2004) by the British author
Bernard Cornwell*
The Pale Horseman (2005) by the British author
Bernard Cornwell*
The Lords of the North (2006) by the British author
Bernard Cornwell*
Eric Brighteyes by
H. Rider Haggard, Project Gutenberg text available
hereMovies
*
The Vikings (1958)
*
The Longships (1963)
*
Island at the Top of the World (1974)
*
Monty Python's "Spam Song"*
Hrafninn flýgur, (
Revenge of the Barbarians; "When the Raven Flies") (1984)
*
Erik the Viking (1989)
*
The 13th Warrior (1999) (Based on Michael Crichton's book, it is also based on Beowulf, but anachronistically takes place in the Viking age)
*
Ring of the Nibelungs (2004)
*
Beowulf & Grendel (2005) (the Beowulf story pre-dates the Viking age by around 300 years)
*
Beowulf (in production)
*
Pathfinder (in production)
Video Games
*
The Lost Vikings (1992)
*
The Lost Vikings II (1996)
* Sweyne Forkbeard of Swansea - (the man who founded Swansea in Wales)
*
Askold and Dir (legendary Varangian conquerors of
Kiev)
*
Björn Ironside (pillaged in
Italy and son of
Ragnar Lodbrok)
*
Egill SkallagrĂmsson (popular Icelandic warrior and
skald, see also
Egils saga)
*
Erik the Red (discoverer of
Greenland)
*
FreydĂs EirĂksdĂłttir (daughter of Erik the Red, she participated in two voyages to Vinland)
*
Gardar Svavarsson (discoverer of
Iceland)
*
Guthrum (colonised
England)
*
Harald Finehair (founder and first king of
Norway; some dispute, as part of the etymological dispute discussed above, whether he really merits the label "Viking" at all)
*
Harald BlĂĄtand (king of Denmark, who united Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway;
Bluetooth technology was named after him)
*
Harald Hardrada (king of Norway and member of the
Varangian Guard)
*
Hastein (also known as
Jarl Hasting)
*
Ingvar the Far-Travelled (the leader of the last great Swedish viking expedition, which pillaged the shores of the
Caspian Sea)
*
Ivar the Boneless (disabled son of
Ragnar Lodbrok who, despite having to be carried on a shield, conquered
York)
*
Ivar Vidfamne*
IngĂłlfur Arnarson (settled in
Iceland)
*
Ketil Flatnose (pirate chieftain in the
Hebrides)
*
Leif Ericson (discoverer of
Vinland)
*
Oleg of Kiev (conquered
Kiev, founded
Kievan Rus' and attacked
Constantinople)
*
Ragnar Lodbrok (captured
Paris)
*
Rollo of Normandy (founder of
Normandy)
*
Rurik (founder of the Rus' rule in Eastern Europe)
*
Skagul Toste (the first Viking to exact the
Danegeld)
*
Styrbjörn Sterki (conqueror of
Jomsborg)
*
Thorfinn Karlsefni (colonizer of Vinland)
*
Thorkell the High -
Jomsviking*
Vagn Akesson (youngest person ever to becomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiabilityverifiablee a Jomsviking)
General references*
Brøndsted, Johannes (1960).
The Vikings, trans. Kalle Skov. Harmondsworth: Penguin. New translation 1965. ISBN 0140204598
*
Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1964).
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Baltimore: Penguin Books.
*
Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1976).
The Viking Road to Byzantium. London: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0049400495
*
Diamond, J. M. (2005).
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin. ISBN 0670033375
* Fletcher, R.A. (1984).
Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego GelmĂrez of Santiago de Compostela (Oxford University Press). Chapter 1 "Galicia" (
on-line text)
*
Foote, Peter G., and
David M. Wilson (1970)
The Viking Achievement* Graham-Campbell, J. (
date?).
The Viking World.
*
Jones, Gwyn (1984).
A History of the Vikings*
Magnusson, Magnus (1980).
Vikings!*
Roesdahl, Else (
date?).
Viking Age Denmark.
*
Sawyer, P. H. (
date?).
Medieval Scandinavia * Sawyer, P. H. (1997).
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings* Sawyer, P. H. (1962).
The Age of the Vikings*
Wilson, David M. (1970)
The Vikings and their Origins* Wilson, David M. (1980)
The Northern WorldOther names used to denote Vikings
*
Daner*
Danes*
Faroese*
Icelanders*
Normans*
Norse*
Norsemen*
Northmen*
Norwegians*
Rus'*
Swedes*
Žuvėdai ("fisheaters" in Lithuanian; "švedai" for Swedish now)
*
Varangians
Culture
*
BlĂłt *
Old Norse poetry *
Norse mythology *
Norse sagas
*
Norse art *
Skald*
Viking funeralHistorians
*
Adam of Bremen *
Saxo Grammaticus *
Snorri SturlusonArchaeology
*
Birka *
Hedeby *
Helgö *
Jelling*
L'Anse aux Meadows *
Leidang *
Lindholm Høje*
Old Uppsala *
Temple at Uppsala *
Tollund Man *
Visby lensesPlace names
*
Danelaw*
Bjarmland*
Helluland*
Jorsal or Jorsalaland
*
Markland*
Vinland*
Hjaltland*
Gardariki*
Serkland*
Miklagard*
Normandy*
Ă–land*
Greenland*
Iceland*
PortvollerMilitary
*
Jomsvikings*
Hill forts,
Viking ring castles*
Viking Age arms and armour*
Viking ship*
Leif Ericson Viking Ship LEVS is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the study, education and promotion of the fact that Leif Ericson was the first European to set foot upon and explore the North American Continent and of Vikings in general, their times and travels throughout the world.
*
Vikingships and traditional Norse wooden boats *
Viking heritage magazine on Viking history
*
Vikings - Isle of Man ~ Leif Eriksson *
Homepage of famous Viking warriors *
PBS Nova: "The Vikings" *
Vikings in Portuguese, Brazilian site *
heimskringla.no *
Catoira, Viking Festival*
StrongbowSaga.com, articles on aspects of Viking life * Museums
**
Lofotr Viking museum **
The Viking ship museum in Oslo **
Ribe Viking Museum Museet Ribes Vikinger**
Ribe Viking Center Ribe Vikingecenter**
The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde **
The MoesgĂĄrd Museum in Ă…rhus **
Lejre Experimental Centre near Roskilde**
The National Museum of Denmark
